An In-Core Thermionic Fission System for a Deep-Space Tug: Carnot Check, Conversion Efficiency and Radiator Area at Forty Kilowatts Thermal Input Scaled to Power

This paper presents a design study of a system whose operating principle is Direct thermionic emission conversion inside a fission reactor core. The sizing is computed from stated assumptions, with every headline quantity produced by the deposited calculation script. The headline results are: electrical kW = 40; carnot = 0.472; radiator m2 = 5.5; specific power W per kg = 26.2. The study is simulated and computed, not measured, and the design is labelled SIMULATED, NOT MEASURED. Where the computed outcome is unfavourable to the concept, that outcome is stated as the result rather than softened: the purpose of the study is to establish, from the governing relations, what a system of this kind can deliver at the stated distance, temperature, or scale, what it costs in mass, area or power, and which assumption controls the answer.